@Ray...

Looks good, nice progress.    John

Great progress!

Excellent progress Ray!  That's really an accomplishment to be proud of.

Thanks

Thanks John  and  Joe.

Progress was helpe by structures and dioramas from my previous layout. Also I get help from a friend, John Roberts, especially with the Tortoises..It  helps being retired

                                                                                                                                                 Ray

Very impressive!

using old structures

Thanks Paul

 I have been running trains just to test track. I have been renovating a lot of old buildings and dioramas,and then covering them with plastic. I am still cutting wood and homosote in the laundry / furnace / staging room and it permeates everything..Here are some of the resurrections and other photos     

Nice Progress

Looking forward to seeing some more scenery Progress Mr. Schofield Senior.

-Schofield Junior!

Scenery

Well Mr. Schofield Thanks

I did some test running today and found a few issues. Now that I have the backdrop in place. I am looking forward to getting one area "finished" whatever that means.I will have to take photos with NRSL power,maybe an RSi or decapod 

before there was a "room"

Before the picture in MR this is what the basement looked like. 

Lounge area /Narrow gauge photos

The second room is about 12 foot sqaure and is the lounge     area / Narrow gauge terminus

Retirement Speed

Ray

This is very impressive what you have accomplished in two years.  I am retired as well and must be doing something wrong because I don't progress anywhere as fast as you do.

Ian Stronach

Modeling the CPR Montreal Terminals Division in September 1968.

speed

Thanks Ian.

At 75 I have to be fast if I want to get it done. .It has helped that I have parts from my old layout, and some help from a friend, especially puting in the Tortoises.

Nice work

Your layout room looks like a very inviting place to be. I'm sure it is fun to run trains there. You have made some great progress.

Tim Garland

@Ray...

I'm glad you decided to start a blog on your layout construction, as I suggested last year , to showcase your layout progress. Good work...you're progressing faster than I am but, I'm not retired yet!       John

John

John thanks

You are right about the blog. There is good news and bad news about retirement. The good is your time is your own;  the bad is you are older and it takes a lot longer to accomplish the same task. The one exception to this is if you can sit and work on a bench or table. I built the two narrow gauge dioramas that way and rebuilt the towns, mine and sawmill the same way..Also my layout is much smaller than yours.

  Although my progress pales by comparison to my son,Neil, who has a very hectic life.There may be something to the old expression "If ou want something done give it to a busy man." See photos     

Inviting space

Tim

Exactly

 This is my  fourth layout and the first with a fully finished room.It is a pleasure to go there.

backdrop complete

I installed the last piece of Masonite backdrop. See before & after photos and a few close ups of town streets     

Backdrop gap

When I ordered my backdrop I intended to fill the gap at the bottom with 3D scenery. After installing it I realized that would not be possible so I asked LARC if they could produce a 2 inch high roadway.. They did so and added a small strip of grass at the top. I installed it and believe it did the trick. There won't be a lot of it exposed, but it gives the appearance of a road running along the top of a hill. This is perfect for my purposes   See before and after photos below.  

Nice Backdrop

Looks Good Mr. Schofield.  That's a quick fix that should work out well

-Neil

road

Thanks Mr. Schofield

Completed narrow gauge track

With the installation of  Moore's feed and the narrow gauge roundhouse, the narrow gauge track is complete. See attached photos,      

10-21-2016 update

NRSL 2

I am working on some Walthers profile buildings to compliment the backdrop behind my main yard. The first is the tenement building. This was built as per the directions after painting and mortar lines. The exception was I raised the building by adding a styrene foundation to level it on a grade. This made revising the stairs necessary. I used Central Valley handrails and modified the steps that came with the kit. I used George Sellious’ mortar method. ( !/2 latex paint and ½ water).It is not great, but not bad and inexpensive. See photos

 I also started replacing the missing ties where the Micro Engineering track was joined and  painted it with camouflage paint first from the stde with flat reddish brown and then straight down with flat black. My son, Neil taught me this. It will hide any voids in the ballast and give the sides of the rail a realistic color. See photo

   10-21-2016 update

Making trees

Making trees can be rewarding and time consuming.. I was fortunate to have some given to me recently by Arnie Hall of Lenox,Ma. These are made from weeds we  call Meadow Sweet, an indigenous weed around New England. These were removed from his layout in favor of  pepper grass.. I have painted the trunks various shades of gray,since Arnie had painted the whole weed various shades of green. I also interspersed them with Super trees along an 8 foot long by 3 to 5 inch piece of foam as part of the joint between the backdrop and layout. I have also finished making a backdrop building from a Walthers tenement building. See photos     

Looks good

Looks good Mr. Schofield.

Keep the progress photos coming.  Glad someone's making progress

-Neil Schofield

signature scene

Thank you Mr. Schofield.

Here are a couple of photos of the bridges and the area where a    river and road will run under the main line (in the rear) over a CV steel truss and girder bridge. The branch line is in the foreground and will be over a Campbell Howe truss and a scratch built wooden trestle.